At present it is well known to use vacuum laminating presses which employ atmospheric pressure to exert a compressive force on an assembly, usually whilst heat is applied, to activate one or more adhesive layers, for the purpose of fabricating bonded laminates therefrom. Such presses are adequate for the manufacture of laminates which are unstressed or relatively lightly stressed, e.g. in the production of mounted photographic prints, road signs, furniture or building panels. Vacuum laminating presses have the advantage of being relatively cheap to manufacture but are limited in being able to exert only atmospheric pressure on such assemblies. For assemblies requiring a laminating pressure greater than atmospheric, e.g. laminated components of complex curvature used in the manufacture of aircraft, it has until now been necessary to employ an autoclave. Autoclaves are capable of producing high pressures e.g. of up to approximately ten times atmospheric pressure, i.e. 150 psi (10.56 kg/cm.sup.2) or more and are of necessity extremely robust, so that they are expensive to manufacture, transport and install.
It is frequently the case when laminating assemblies as aforesaid, such as components used in the manufacture of aircraft, that a laminating pressure intermediate that attainable with known vacuum laminating presses and known autoclaves is required and in such cases a large and expensive autoclave has to be used because nothing else is available. There is thus a need for a laminating press which is capable of operating at intermediate pressures of say 30 to 80 psi (3.5 to 5.6 kg/cm.sup.2) and which is lighter and less expensive than an autoclave. The present invention aims to fulfil this need.